Saturday, May 1, 2010

My Superhero

Here is another post from my archives.


When Jake was 3 we had all the superhero pj’s. Superman, Batman, Robin and Spiderman. He loved them and wanted to wear them everyday, all day. One day after a battle of wills on this subject we finally decided that he would wear his “secret identity” over his costume for a trip to the mall. And so there I was standing in the middle of a busy mall chatting with a friend while Jake was playing in the center court a few feet from me. I looked over and saw to my horror that he was taking his clothes off and was struggling to transform into a superhero. What do I do? If I try to stop him there will definitely be a big scene and I likely won’t win. So I did the only reasonable thing, pretend I don’t know him. Once he had wandered off I quietly went over and retrieved the abandoned clothes, tucked them in my purse and then went to retrieve my superhero. There were many more adventures to the mall with my superhero. When he was Spiderman he would “shoot a web” up to the ceiling as he stepped on the escalader and held his arms up as we “flew” to the second floor. When he was Superman he always had to wear the black cowboy boots because, “superman wears boots”. Something I hadn’t really noticed before. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by this stage or his desire to wear the costumes out. When he was 2 he would insist on wearing his hooded bath towels to the mall as “capes”. With so many childhood issues to worry about I am glad I let him wear the costumes to the mall. Although it seemed like he would never wear his regular clothes again, the stage is now long over and I miss it.

Oh how I remind myself of this every time I leave the house with Isabelle in some crazy ensemble.  Although it might occasionally be nice to see her in something coordinated I know that one day she will start dressing like everyone else and I will desperately miss these days of creativity and personal expression.  I didn't know to cherish the superhero stage with Jake but I definately am with Isabelle.

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